Monday, February 12, 2018

Having had a trip to the ER last week due to a virus, I'm here to tell you that cold / flu / virus / bug season is no joke. As with most things though, if I can't snark my way through it, I can't get through it.

Fortunately things are on the upswing but have not had the interest or energy in making much, but did come up with some printables to share!

I'm not paranoid but considering taking a small can of Lysol with me when I leave the house!

It's not personal but if you so much as cough or sneeze in my general direction, I'm going the other way!

The most basic preventative thing all of us can do and probably don't do enough, even at home.

Click on each image to bring to full size, and right click to Save As.

Monday, June 5, 2017

Or, maybe I should change it to "The Answer Is Mochas" to be even more specific! If you read my posts, you know I don't get through the day without them!

Imagine my absolute joy when this week's freebies from Creative Market included another of my absolute favorites, hand lettering, combined with another favorite, FREE all rolled into one downloadable set of Hand Lettered Coffee Quotes !

Coffee? Check

Hand Lettering? Check

Free? Check

What's not to be happy about? I'm happier than me with a mocha. Seriously if you are on the lookout for fonts and digital images you need to bookmark Creative Market and every Monday they release 6 new items for .... you guessed it FREE.

In this set you get all of these hand lettered quotes. Aren't they great? You also get them in black on a white background ( plus more). I broke these apart so I could use them individually and make you things like the above "Coffee Coffee Coffee" printable that's sized 8x10 when brought to full resolution. I also made it in the reverse:

There's a great chalkboard background that also comes with this set so of course I had to play with it!

Update: After I posted this one, I noticed that "of" should be "for" . Since I can't edit it, I plopped a little heart over it.

and

Needless to say, the possibilities are endless. Go get these and hope you like these printables!

Monday, March 13, 2017

Well it is somewhere right? Not in the Northeast which I understand is expecting quite the snow storm. And here in the PNW it's been rainy and cold.

The calendar tells me there's a week until the beginning of Spring so I played around with "Dream Bouquet", a collection of watercolor flowers from designbundles.net. It's their freebie of the week (only free for three more days!!) and maybe some wishful thinking will speed Spring along? I also made a version with pink text.

I created them in PicMonkey using a transparent background and then adding the images using the Add Overlay function. PicMonkey's not new so this may be old news but it's one of my go to tools.

Basic steps:

1.) Go to PicMonkey.

NOTE: It's free unless you want to upgrade to a Royale Membership which grants you access to additional features and fonts. I had one, let it lapse and so far I'm good since you can add your own overlays and use most of your own fonts which was my main reason for getting it.

2.) Select "Try Templates"

3.) This will bring up pre-populated templates you can play with ( they'll indicate whether they're free or not) but you can also search / select what you want. I usually do printable 8.5x11 so I selected that from the Print Size pull down

4.) Once you've chosen your size, you want to make your background transparent which takes the click of a button:

Under the "Basic Edits" option ( first one on the left) click on Canvas Color and then click on Transparent Canvas. Your background will show as a grey and white checked pattern but this will not show once you print or use online. I prefer the .PNG format so that if I want to print on a colored or patterned paper it doesn't obstruct it. Of course if you want your background to be a color you choose that color from the slide bar that's shown.

4.) Add your images using the Overlay tool. This is the butterfly, 4th option down the left side. There are many many free overlays within PicMonkey so you can mix and match between theirs and your own ; use just your own ; use just theirs. To use your own click on the Add Your Own button at the top and then you can use your library of either png or jpg images.

From here it's a matter of adding, sizing, and layering your images and adding text. Using your own fonts is similar to using the Overlay tool but instead you click on the Tt on the left, choose Your Own on the fonts menu and go from there.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

I’ve mentioned before that I love PicMonkey. That was before Halloween decorating started. and they added a whole bunch of new effects. Yowza. They have got quite the collection. No matter your Halloween decorating style…from gothic, to ghoulish, to scary, creepy, funny, zombie you name it.

What fun is a printable without a great frame though? I started with an unpainted filigree frame I picked up at Michaels:

and painted it black. After which I had the Rolling Stones stuck in my head for the rest of the day.

Once the paint was dry, I used a spray adhesive and alternated sprinkling black and clear glitter like a madwoman.

Then I just printed my printable, adhered it to the back of the frame, and added a few rhinestones.
So here’s the printable I made completely in PicMonkey which I’m happy to share with you. Click on to bring to full resolution then right click to save as.

Of course with all of the fun effects, I couldn’t stop at just one printable:

Saturday, June 23, 2012

My PicMonkey addiction continues. Tonia over at The Gunny Sack, shared a tutorial on how to use their collage function to customize a background. Uh oh…more stuff you can do in PicMonkey!!! Thank you Tonia.

The Mumster (my mom) often quotes the saying “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans” so it’s usually somewhere on my mind. I adapted it to crafting!

I made a black background and then just used different fonts for the text. PicMonkey added some new frame options this week called “Sketchedy” one of which I applied to this printable.

Click to bring to full resolution. Right click to save as and then re-size in whatever photo editor you use.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Earth Day has always been extra special for us because it was the birthday of one of our best friends. Sadly we lost her to cancer a few years ago.

She loved Earth Day…not just because it was her birthday but especially because she was a pre-school educator. I used to save all of my paper scraps for her to use with her kids and they loved getting new batches of paper to play with. She always had a fun Earth Day project lined up to do with them.

I made this printable in her honor and to celebrate Earth Day. Of course if you print it, print it on recycled paper.

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Unless otherwise credited, all projects are those of The Answer Is Chocolate. Please link back etc. and I will always do the same for any projects I feature that are from other sources. Thanks a bunch!